German government rebukes Elon Musk over refugee rescue criticism

Foreign Office says groups are saving lives as X owner questions role of German NGOs in Mediterranean

The German government has rebuked Elon Musk after he criticised the work of rescue ships being operated by German humanitarian groups in the Mediterranean Sea.

The owner of X, formerly Twitter, retweeted a video on Friday that showed refugees and aid workers on a boat. The rightwing account that first put the content on the social media platform used the post to praise the populist far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party, which has taken a hard line on migration issues.